Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 St John Street, London EC1V 4NJ Tuesday 5th – Saturday 30th March 2019

Image courtesy of Chris Mann

Most people get to be happy with one person. I don’t see why I should have it any different.

Circa explores the blurred identity of the gay relationship in the modern age. Following the story of one man’s romantic life, we are taken through the different relationships and encounters he experiences over a period of thirty years. Joining him through the joys and pitfalls of trying to find love and fulfilment as a gay man.

The twenty-first century. Being gay is supposedly more integrated than ever. Marriage is legal, parenthood is possible and #LoveWins is trending on twitter. The time has arrived to settle down with the man you love for a life of lasting companionship. But in a world where sex is readily available, and with a history of sexual freedom; what does it mean to be in a gay relationship in the modern age? And why are so many gay men still lonely?

After premiering at the Theatre de Meervaart, Amsterdam in 2016, work.Theatre return with Tom Ratcliffe’s debut play in a co-production with Harlow Playhouse.

Circa tackles a range of issues head on in an increasingly deep and fascinating exploration – yes, of what it means to be a gay person, but more widely, what it means to be human. I’m pleased there are no set-in-stone answers provided in this most thoughtful debut play from Tom Ratcliffe. As audiences shout at concerts and gigs after a band has done a good job, “More! More!” (LondonTheatre 1).

Writer Tom Ratcliffe comments, I can’t wait to be bringing Circa back this year for a longer run in London and then to Harlow. The play has become even more topical over the past two years and loneliness amongst the gay community is something that needs to be spoken about.  I think there’s something for everyone to take away from this play as the striving for contentment in romantic relationships is universal.  The play has developed over the past two years and it’s something I cannot wait to share with everyone.

Performance Dates  Tuesday 5th – Saturday 30th March 2019   Tuesday – Saturday, 7.30pm    Saturday and Sunday matinee, 3pm

Running time   2 hours including interval

Age Recommendation  13+

Location   Old Red Lion Theatre, 418 John Street, London EC1V 4NJ

Box Office Tickets are available priced from £12 Call 0333 012 4963 or book online at: www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk.

Twitter @__Circa, @workTheatre, @tomratcliffe15, @ORLtheatre, #CircaORL

Image courtesy of Daniel Hughes

Hey Baby! Following her hit success at Edinburgh Fringe 2018, award-winning performance artist Katy Dye now takes Baby Face on aUK Tour. Baby Face – winner of The Autopsy Award and Lustrum Award 2018 – is a daring look into the paradox of living in a society that continues to infantilise adult women.

Welcome to a world of knee socks, bunches, lollipops, bubblegum and models adopting the childlike expressions of six-year-old girls. Paedophilia is condemned yet fetishised images of women as prepubescent girls are everywhere. In this brave and outlandish performance, Katy Dye questions if innocence is truly as sexy as we’re told.

[a] pointed examination of the way that women are infantilised and how they sometimes collude… Baby Face is provocative stuff…big on impact (Lyn Gardner, The Independent).

Here, the audience enter a strange world, where a grown woman transforms from adult, to teenager, to toddler, to baby. She dresses in a school uniform and performs Britney’s iconic routine. She squeezes herself into a clingy top printed with cartoons – meant for a child or a grown woman? In a pristine white set, using minimal costumes and a baby’s high chair, she navigates the uncomfortable line between wanting to be cared for and being infantilised. With a soundtrack of bubblegum pop and drone rock, and a cloud of talcum powder and haze, strange mixed messages hang in the air. Baby Face is an exposure of our contradictory society when it comes to women’s bodies and how they are treated.

The production is supported by Arts Council England and the Hunter Foundation.

Baby Face :  running time 50 minutes

Box Office Tickets are available from individual theatre box offices. Twitter @katydye1, #BabyFace

Notes Ages 16+, talcum powder used in show (allergy warning)

Artist/Performer Katy Dye Producer Jack Stancliffe Sound Designer Zac Scott Lighting Design Michaella Fee Rossi Video/photography Daniel Hughes

Performance Dates

7th – 9th February Tron Theatre, Glasgow 63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB 28th February Theatre Deli, Sheffield 202 Eyre Street, Sheffield S1 4QZ

6th March Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield Queen Street, Huddersfield HD1 2SP

8th – 9th March Brighton Dome Church Street, Brighton BN1 1UE

20th March The Lowry, Manchester Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ

23rd March Harlow Playhouse Essex Playhouse Square, Harlow CM20 1LS

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox is an interesting book. I’ve just had a discussion on genes, and we were chatting about whether we inherit memories, or attitudes, or gifts and to some extent this explores the edge of our discussion.

Growing up, Lydia Montrose knew she was descended from the witches of Salem and was warned to keep her legacy secret. But Willow Hall has awoken something inside her…

I enjoyed the writing, and the story. The American voice came over clearly, the story was effortless to follow. A good read.

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox. pub Harper Collins. pb £7.99 e book and audio

Every Breath You Take by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke

I read this with great pleasure. I’ve loved Mary Higgins Clark ever since a sheep station owner in Australia handed it to me for my onward journey, saying you’ll love her. I do. I’ve wanted to love Alafair Burke, because I have a passion for James Lee Burke. But somehow I’ve never quite felt the commitment to his daughter, very close, but not quite. But after reading this novel,  I’m in her corner now.

The Met Gala ball – where the rich and famous want to be seen , strutting their stuff. You’re nobody if you’re not invited. Perhaps people would kill for that crisp white card? For for not getting one?

Is that what happened three years ago when a member of the Met’s board of trustees was found dead in the snow at the foot of the building? Thrown or jumped? Well, now you mention it, thrown, but by whom? Ah, well read the book.

The alchemy of these two writers brings us something special. Bravo, fabulous. Like Oliver Twist – More please.

Every Breath you Take by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke. pub Simon & Schuster pb £7.99

The Bad Daughter by Joy Fielding

Another novel about trust. There’re many questions about trust   these days and not just in the writing world.

This exploration is gripping: Robin Davis hasn’t spoken to her family in six years. Not since ‘it’ happened. Then they’re attacked; left fighting for their lives. And Robin is back. What is the secret that has put them all in danger, and whose is it?

As I say, gripping. But I’ve come to expect it from this author.

The Bad Daughter by Joy Fielding. pub Zaffre. pb and eBook £7.99

Starry Night: Van Gogh at the Asylum is a fresh insight into the last year of the artist’s life which was mostly spent at Saint-Paul-de Mausoleum in the South of France. The author, a leading Van Gogh specialist has woven new material from the Asylum with his extensive knowledge of the artist, his life and work. This well written and lavishly illustrated book will capture hearts and minds.

Vincent Van Gogh was a highly literate man who knew French, German and English as well as his native Dutch. He was a great reader, who loved Dickens and who read the complete works of Shakespeare in English during his stay at Saint-Paul. He produced many paintings and drawings during the year he voluntarily spent as a patient whose mental health problems had caused him great distress culminating in the severing of his own ear.

Martin Bailey has meticulously charted that year using documents from the asylum which for the first time offer descriptions of the buildings, other residents and glimpses of the life led by `Monsieur Vincent’ from May 1889 to May 1890.

It is possible to see the viewpoints for the works of this time, whether from windows, or the interior, and occasions when Vincent was well enough to travel into the surrounding countryside. Many of the paintings were sent to Paris to his brother Theo, which is how they have survived. The masterpieces included wheat fields, olive groves, cypresses and sunsets.

Vincent also wrote letters when he was well enough, which alongside this new research give a fascinating insight into the artist. Sadly there are so many lost works. The story of some of these is an intriguing work of detection and revelation by the author.

Starry Night Van Gogh at the Asylum By Martin Bailey  pub:  White Lion Publishing. £25.00 Hardback

Death on the Canal comes as I’ve just finished reading the Waterway Girls trilogy by Milly Adams – fabulous. So is Death on the Canal by Anja de Jager also fabulous?

Amsterdam is in the clutches of a bitter winter, and six UK tourists are dead.

I feel I’m in Amsterdam itself as Dutch detective Lotte Meerman is faced with a moral dilemma – does she investigate the murder of a suspected drug dealer, or instead stay silent to ensure that another man, responsible for the drug-related deaths of six tourists in Amsterdam, is convicted?

I was in Amsterdam recently, and I walked the streets with Lotte, summer and winter. All superbly captured, and evocative and the pages kept turning with problems arising, and over lying it all the massive difficulty of whom to trust. A stonking read. Go for it.

Death on the Canal by Anja de Jager. PB. Pub. Constable (who publish good things) £8.99. + ebook.

Golden Prey by John Sandford

Lucas Davenport has a job with the U.S. Marshals Service – an unusual one. He gets to pick his own cases, whatever they are and follow wherever they lead. There was a feel of Ian Rankin’s Rebus about this, because Rebus follows wherever cases lead, and would dearly like to pick ’em as well. And I loved it.

Written with just the right pace, wry humour, action and an absorbing central character. What more to say beyond – buy it, and all Sandford’s other novels. What a fabulous author. I bet he’s an interesting bloke too – after all, John Sandford is the pseudonym for the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Camp.

Golden Prey by John Sandford. pb. pub Simon & Schuster. £8.99

One More Lie by Amy Lloyd

A thriller, a chilling one an’ all. Charlotte wants to start afresh. She wants to ditch her past, forget the childhood years in prison, and most of all, Sean. But even with a new identity has anything really changed, most of all, her? After all, there’s comfort in old familiar things, especially if they are the sum of one’s self. So soon she is heading back down towards the darkness. Can she retreat, turn away, turn back, and REALLY change her life. Well, that journey into the darkness requires a catalyst and when that comes along…

This is written with experience and style, which is strange as this is only a second novel. I liked it and though I haven’t experienced obsession I felt Charlotte’s.

One More Lie by Amy Lloyd. hb. + ebook. £12.99  pub. Century.

And lastly:

The Year that Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly.

Women’s fiction to end with. Heart-warming chatty novel which charts three women as they head into a year that could/will change everything for each of them. One is 30, one forty, one fifty and she is celebrating at a party when something heralds change.Reading this is a bit like soaking in a warm bath after battling through the tensions and nail biting of the first three novels. Or if not a bath, then perhaps sipping a great glass of wine after a hectic day…

The Year that Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly pb pub Orion £7.99

Written loosely in the style of the Ladybird for Adults ‘How it Works’ series, this is the first book by a consultant doctor who specialises in Emergency Medicine. Perhaps more to follow?

Using a children’s book format, Dr McHale provides an insight into the different grades of hospital doctor and GPs – a very British hierarchy.  He connects his characters using a humorous story which also highlights political issues affecting the current working of the NHS. His caricatures of consultant figures will strike a cord with anyone who has worked in the NHS.

Don’t be fooled by the large type and the pictures of dolls and toy cars – this book is strictly adult humour. A light-hearted read.

By Dr K Thompson, author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q

http://faitobooks.co.uk

Our 2018 Christmas was a bit of an experiment. We’d seen the family earlier in December and rather than rush around over Christmas we all decided to stay put.

We moved to Thirsk five months ago, as my roots are in Washington, near Newcastle, and we’d wanted to move up north for ages so in a gap between grand-children we made a run for it.

From Thirsk there is an excellent train service to London, as long as you book well in advance unless you’re a millionaire, so it’s perfect. But what of Thirsk itself? Familiar to many through James Herriot’s books and the TV series All Creatures Great and Small, The Yorkshire Vet, not to forget The Heist, Thirsk is a wonderfully friendly, quirky and interesting market town, and set within glorious countryside.

But back to Christmas. So, here we were, in Thirsk for Christmas – where to eat? I had met a visitor from London walking her dog a few months previously who was up from London, and staying  at The Golden Fleece and enjoying it. A hotel that welcomes dogs? It shouts, welcome, don’t you think. So, we decided to take a punt and choose it for Christmas lunch.

Dating from the 1500s with some of the original features still in place including an inglenook fireplace, The Golden Fleece is believed to have its origins as a private house. However, it was in 1810 that George and Mary Blythe started the hard work that established it as one of the north’s most iconic coaching inns.

Set on the market place and ideally placed for the coach services running along the Great North Road it accepted guests disembarking the coaches at all hours of the day and night, with stabling for 60 horses. The railway arrived in Thirsk in 1841 but The Golden Fleece, nothing daunted, still held sway under the control of William Hall, George Blythe’s great nephew. William extended the clientale to include the townsfolk, and tourists visiting the area.

Still keeping The Golden Fleece in the family, William Hall’s son, William Wellbank Hall had the PR sense to provide a grand luncheon in 1911 for a mix of Europe’s great and good who were competing in a stage of one of the world’s car rallies. Royalty in the guise of Prince Henry of Prussia, and literary royalty – Arthur Conan Doyle – pitched up, amongst others. It wasn’t until the closing stages of the 1st World War in 1918 that The Golden Fleece was sold out of the family.

Just as The Golden Fleece had attracted the coaches in former times, the PR coup of the luncheon of 1911 continued to draw early motorists to The Golden Fleece even under new ownership, though by now the stables were converted to garages, two of them with pits for mechanics to do running repairs on their cars.

In 2015 the hotel was acquired by The Coaching Inn Group, and has undergone a major refurbishment to meet the needs of today’s market while respecting and retaining many features of its fascinating heritage.

So this is The Golden Fleece – but let’s get the lowdown on our Christmas lunch.

We booked well in advance, since our stomachs are of supreme importance to us, and we chose our meal ahead of time. There were two sittings, and we chose the first at 12.30.

I did worry slightly that the ambience would be rather stiff and posh, and Dick kept running round his finger round his collar because he is an anti-tie man these days. Our friend and neighbour, Catherine, made up our party of three, and requires gluten free which sometimes catering finds a pain at these busy times; what’s more, they let that pain be known. So, all in all,  it was with slight trepidation we set off

So was it posh and were they grumpy? Emphatically not. It was huge fun, with a Christmassy décor, and the most amazing crackers on the table,  so elegant were they it seemed a sin to pull them, but pull them we did. For how could we not wear paper hats? The manager circulated, totally accessible and chatty, the staff were efficient, and great fun, Dick relaxed, Catherine enjoyed her gluten-free food, I sipped my wine, gobbled my food, and looked around and saw that everyone was chatting, and laughing, and having the greatest time. What’s more the ages ranged from children to oldies like me – oh no, never you, I hear you shout – and all were having a really good time.

And as a plus we live near enough to walk home, so could have that extra glass of fizz. We had coffee in the lounge looking out over the square and did rather envy those who were staying the night. From all accounts they were loving every minute.

I do like to pick out something that didn’t work, to show I’m not easily impressed, but I can’t. We all loved it, so much so that Catherine is having her birthday lunch there very soon.

ps Look out for the duty manager, Gabriel. She’s great.

The Golden Fleece Hotel, Eatery and Coffee House, Market Place, Thirsk, North Yorkshire YO7 1LL Phone@ 01845 523108. goldenfleece@innmail.co.uk

Reservations: 01845 438300    reservations@innmail.co.uk

www.goldenfleece.com

Dogs are welcomed but only in certain bedrooms. They are not allowed in the restaurant but are in the lounge etc.

Milly Adams is a bestselling Arrow, Random House, author.

Listening to the Animals – becoming the supervet.

Being asked to review Listening to the Animals was a no brainer. I LOVE this bloke. The very thought of him makes me smile, and this memoir by the fantastic Noel Fitzpatrick is imbued with the man we see on the TV. Whimsical, fast talking, full of memories, full of love and strangely full also of self-doubt.

I had the impression this was written as he darted here and there in Fitzpatrick Referrals dodging from one operation to another, and stopping, breathless, to write the next few pages. it is written with immediacy, and honesty. We travel with him from his beloved parents’ farm to school where bullying of this ‘culchie’, a lad from the bogs,  was unremitting.  Noel Fitzpatrick decided early on, though, that he had a choice – to make the most of this education in order to achieve his dream of working with animals in spite of the agony of his day to day existence, or to accept the general opinion that the culchie would come to nothing.

So on he struggled, and no wonder self-doubt became a dominant emotion, in the face of this behaviour. Nonetheless, at this school he received a good education, one which allowed him to strive towards his dream, a dream sustained by his  dog Pirate who was his comfort during his lonely struggle, and of course, his family unaware though they were of the bullying.

Fitzpatrick’s writing is lyrical, raw, humorous, heartbreaking and inspiring. I couldn’t put it down, and hardened book reviewer and author though I am, I cried, and I cheered, I was awestruck.

Is there anything this amazing man can’t achieve?

As the founder of a charity for ill and injured veterans Words for the Wounded I long for this orthopaedic excellence – a prosthetic limb fused directly into the bone of an amputated limb – to reach our veterans as a matter of course. Indeed, I noted in the Bucksfreepress.co.uk recently that  a young man found just this treatment in Australia. Please may it soon reach here, and if Noel Fitzpatrick has anything to do with it, it will. God bless the man.

Becoming The Supervet by Noel Fitzpatrick. pub Trapeze hb £20 ebook and audiobook available.

Read it, love it.